Please help - confused by HV advice re weaning

[JulieO2]

Hi,
My 7.5 month old boy is totally uninterested in solids (purees, blw, anything resembling food!) and a very healthy weight BUT health visitor says he's not interested because we're giving him too much milk (formula/EBM.)We've now reduced his milk and he has gone from sleeping through quite happily to waking 3 times a night and we are both exhausted. He can't yet sit unaided. Health visitor says I should persevere and that it takes up to 20 attempts to get baby to accept a particular food, but this seems so unnatural to me as it makes him miserable. Please can anyone advise - should I just chill out, up his daytime milk and just give him opportunity for BLW and let him decide? I feel so pressured to get him eating! He's my second baby, and we had no problems with first one! Thanks,
Julie

Sorry you're having a bad time :(

The HV is right in that research shows that it can take repeated offerings for a child to accept a food, but this means over a period of time, and there's no suggestion there should be any forcing or struggle.

If your baby is growing well and developing normally with no health problems, the general advice is all that's needed is gentle encouragement, with food your baby can pick up and play with, and with mealtimes a social occasion (while you have a meal or snack at the same time, at the same table)/

Why is the HV concerned? Is there any underlying issue?

I think weaning is such a gradual thing, and I really subscribed to the BLW 'food is fun until they're one' motto. I'd keep his milk up and just keep giving him opportunities to try/play with food. Milk is still his main source of nutrition, and at this point he's got no concept that food will make him not hungry! Plus there aren't that many foods you can give him that will give the calories/fat that he'd get from milk (avocado is the one exception I think?).

My HV tried to pressure me to start solids before six months--so I stopped going!